Talk:Watch Out Now/@comment-3575890-20150414031143
I completely see where many people come from in their dislike for Snape, but I personally have always had such a dramatically different vision of him. Snape is a victim of circumstance. He was born into a violent and neglectful household and basically was raised under the same conditions as Tom Riddle, whom partially turned out the way that he did because of his upbringing. I often think of Snape as an alternate Tom Riddle had Tom Riddle had somebody whom loved and supported him like Snape had in Lily. I really feel that given their similar backgrounds and upbringing, Snape very well might have grown up to be no different from Tom if he didn't have that support system back in his early childhood development. Lily was all that kept him tethered to his humanity, but even the depth of Snape's love for her wasn't enough to prevent him from going down a path that was inevitable from the moment of his birth. I would like to point out that when Snape lashes out at Lily and calls her a "mud blood", it comes from a place of insecurity and deepest self-loathing within him. Snape too was a half-blood, and was deeply ashamed of his roots having been indoctrinated into an ideological culture prejudiced against his kind from very early on. I think it's also important to note that Snape had just been humiliated/abused, and the wounds were still fresh when Lily reached out to him and he lashed out at her in response. He knew she and him were going in separate directions and that he'd lose her eventually - particularly to his arch-nemesis James. And so he was deliberate in his words to get her to hate him so it would be easier for him to let her go. He drove her away before he could lose her later down the road knowing it would hurt that much more. This doesn't make what he said to Lily any less hurtful. I'm just saying there are mitigating factors that put this all into perspective. Now in Snape later joining a genocidal cult, while I can't deny was a reflection of bad character, was self-fulfilling prophecy in its most extreme form. As I've already mentioned, Snape joining the Death Eaters was an inevitability. Here was a young man already filled with so many negative feelings and thoughts on account of a dysfunctional childhood and being bullied, coexisting daily with other children born of Death Eater families and they themselves under initiation into servitude of the Dark Lord. I think Snape chose to join the Death Eaters for many reasons, one of which being the position offered him power. For somebody with low self esteem whom was so used to being smacked around and humiliated, the temptation was strong. In addition, peer pressure from his Slytherin comrades probably also played a role. Finally, he craved acceptance and longed to be a part of something. Eventually, he had the strength of mind and will to leave it. People can say what they will about Snape, but the fact is he was able to rise above the darkness well past what might've seemed the point of no return. He had an amazing redemption arc that ended with him dying a hero from the villain he once was. He abandoned everything he had ever known to start anew all for the sake of one woman whom he loved more than anything else in the world. He put his own life in jeopardy to protect her offspring whom was also the product of his greatest arch-nemesis, and in spite of initial resentment, he grew to care for the boy anyway. One could argue that he only changed sides for a woman, but it's so much deeper than that. Love was the driving force that was powerful enough to pull him out of the darkness and set him on the right path. And a love that strong cannot possibly come from somebody completely inherently evil. I acknowledge that Snape was a terrible person, but the thing about some of the best antihero characters in history is they rarely ever start off as good people. Regina Mills, for instance, was a horrible, horrible person that committed unspeakable evil, but she found her redemption and not too coincidentally, love was also her catalyst. Don't get me wrong, I completely understand why some fans dislike Snape and characters like him. He has a lot of negative qualities and has done a lot of terrible things, but taking into account every piece of the puzzle, I really feel that the good outweighed the bad in the end. I will always remember Snape as a hero reborn from the darkness.